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CornerStone Workflow Toolkit

CAS Plugin - part 2

write up 1

The primary purpose of using an Excel template for creating UML diagrams is to simplify and democratize the process of creating professional-quality diagrams. This approach is particularly beneficial for users who may not have a deep understanding of UML or process mapping.

The Excel template serves as a user-friendly interface that abstracts away the complexities of the UML language. Users can input information into a structured format, and the template guides them through the process of defining components, relationships, and properties of the diagram.

This approach has several key benefits:

  1. Accessibility: Users do not need to learn the UML language or understand process mapping techniques. They simply fill in the required information in the Excel template.

  2. Standardization: The use of a template ensures consistency in the way diagrams are created. This is particularly important when diagrams are being created by multiple people within an organization.

  3. Validation: Excel’s built-in data validation features can be used to prevent incorrect entries, ensuring the accuracy of the diagrams.

  4. Efficiency: By automating the process of generating the UML code from the Excel input, users can create complex diagrams more quickly and efficiently.

  5. Documentation: The resulting UML diagrams serve as valuable documentation of business processes. They can help to improve understanding, facilitate communication, and serve as a reference for future process improvement efforts.

In summary, an Excel template for UML diagram creation can empower any user to create high-quality, professional diagrams, aiding in the documentation of processes they perform, without requiring them to understand the intricacies of UML or process mapping.

write up 2

Using an Excel template for each UML diagram type can streamline the process of creating UML diagrams, especially for those who are not familiar with the PlantUML domain language. Here’s how it works:

  1. Standardizes the Input: By having a specific Excel template for each UML diagram type, you ensure that the input is standardized. Each row in the Excel sheet can represent a different component of the UML diagram, and each column can represent different attributes of these components. This makes it easy to understand and fill out the template.

  2. Built-in Excel Validation Features: Excel has built-in data validation features that can prevent incorrect entries. For example, you can set up a dropdown list for a cell to ensure that only certain values can be entered. This can be used to select the correct PlantUML keywords for objects and components, ensuring that the user doesn’t have to remember these keywords and can’t enter incorrect ones.

  3. Choosing Correct PlantUML Keywords: As mentioned above, by using Excel’s data validation features, you can create a dropdown list of all the correct PlantUML keywords for objects and components. This means the user doesn’t need to memorize these keywords - they can simply select the correct one from the list.

  4. Assigning Colors: You can have a column in the Excel template for assigning colors to different components. Again, you can use Excel’s data validation features to ensure that only valid color codes are entered.

  5. Setting Up Relationships: Setting up relationships between different components can be as simple as entering the names of the two components in two cells and the relationship type in a third cell. Excel’s data validation can ensure that only valid relationship types are entered.

  6. No Need to Understand PlantUML Domain Language: Since all the PlantUML keywords are selected from dropdown lists and the structure of the UML diagram is determined by the structure of the Excel sheet, the user doesn’t need to understand the PlantUML domain language. They just need to fill out the Excel sheet.

Once the Excel sheet is filled out, a script can be used to convert the information in the sheet into a PlantUML diagram. This makes the process of creating UML diagrams much more accessible to those who are not familiar with PlantUML.